Cherry Fenderbird ~ Luthiery Laboratories

Cherry Fenderbird

For those of you who thought my Stratocaster bass was an abomination, feast your eyes on this. The MusicmanBird. ThunderJazzRay. FenderManBird. I just call it FenderBird #2.

Specs:

Body: Thunderbird, cherry, Danish oil finish - someone's abandoned project from eBay
Neck: Mighty Mite Jazz bass, 34" maple
Logos: inkjet-printed waterslide decals under satin lacquer - hobby shop
Tuners, neck plate, misc hardware: GFS
Pickup: MusicMan-style, alnico, 2.5k/coil, 4-wire - Guitar Jones ?
Bridge: MusicMan-style cheap Chinese knockoff, top-strung - eBay
Pickguards & control cover: scrap material from old project
Fasteners: bright stainless steel - marine supplies store
Knobs: Precision bass dome style, Rickenbacker layout - parts box
Electronics: Guitar Fuel SBK-2 active bass & treble + 4-way pickup switch & dead-battery passive switch
Strings: d'Addario 50-105 roundwound

As oriented in the picture, the controls are:

North: volume, pull for passive output (dead battery)
East: bass 12db boost/cut, center detent
South: treble 12db boost/cut, center detent
West: pickup mode, 4-way rotary switch

Basses, Body - Bought, Body - Solid, Electronics - Active, Gibson, Long-Scale Basses, Neck - Bought, Projects,

Gibson Projects

Gibson Fenderbird Bass 1

Gibson Fenderbird Bass 2

Gibson Reverse Fenderbird Bass

Samick SG450 Guitar

The "Fenderbird" is a mash-up of a Gibson Thunderbird body and a Fender neck. You'd expect such a thing to be a mutt, but this mutt comes with a great pedigree - invented by no less than John Entwistle of The Who.

More: Gibson Projects ...

Long-Scale Basses

Basses built with the standard scale length of 34 inches.

Long-Scale Basses

More: Long-Scale Basses ...

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Veneers

These are some veneers I ordered. The first is red gum, the second is beeswings eucalyptus. Both of these are mighty tonewoods and were very inexpensive. I'm going to see how they laminate over masonite. That could give a woody surface with a neat masonite edge, much like the old Danelectros, without the need to cover up a rough plywood edge with plastic binding. Masonite actually looks pretty cool under a clear coat as well, and it is stainable.

More: Veneers ...